Sandaime
by soprano-in-waiting
Summary: Naruto was in the wrong place at the wrong time, overhearing something he wasn't meant to; an assassination plot focused on the Sandaime. Oneshot.


I do not own Naruto. I simply enjoy it like the rest of you out there. Maybe we can riot and demand stockshares?

A grinning four (soon to be five)-year old waltzed down the street towards the ramen stand. It was the first of the month. This was the day he got money to live on for the next two weeks, otherwise known as an orphan stipend. He was coming back from the hokage tower, and heading straight to his most favorite spot in the entire village: Ichiraku Ramen. One hand was clenched around some cash as dreams of ramen bowls danced through his head. Pork, beef, chicken. It didn't matter to the boy who was now drooling slightly as he moved on autopilot down the well trod path.

A gust of wind caught him unawares, tugging a few bills out of his hands. Naruto caught the first and the second as they settled on the ground, but a second gust blew the last straight through a grate set in the ground for the rainwater to collect and drain off.

"Stupid wind…bad enough that I have to deal with people trying to take my money, why does the wind do it too?" He muttered as he studied the opening. With a sigh, he tucked his remaining bills into the small pouch around his neck that his Jiji had given him. He needed to get his money before he could go for ramen. Old Man Teuchi made sure to teach him that the first time he came to the stand.

Naruto carefully wiped the dirt away from the edges. He could see a small crack on the sides. Looking around, he found a small scrap of thin metal. The blonde worked it in between the edges of the grate and the surrounding setting. Finally, he could feel it work through all the layered dirt. With a heave, he pushed hard down on the rudimentary lever, lifting it out. With a final shove with his foot, the grate moved, giving him just enough room to slip in.

With a crunch, his feet landed on the dried leaves that had begun to collect there in the last few days with the coming of autumn. Unfortunately, while producing a lovely crunching sound, his landing also stirred up the air, causing his money to float down the side pipe leading to the sewers.

A slight thud came from Naruto hitting his head against the cement in frustration. Carefully, he maneuvered himself so he could get into the opening of the pipe. He could see it there in front of him. He reached out for it.

'_Close…just a bit further….'_ Naruto thought. His fingertips just brushed the edge of the paper.

"…set then….kill…." A muffled voice reached the child's ears.

Naruto froze.

"festival night….sandaime….die…." The same voice echoed faintly in the pipe.

The small blonde's heart began to race.

"strike while he's weak…" A different voice chimed in.

Eyes wide, Naruto wriggled backwards, out of the pipe. Without even bothering to replace the grate, he booked it out of there, straight to the hokage.

0o0o0o0

Sarutobi was enjoying a brief respite from his paperwork, when his door was suddenly flung open. His right hand retreated into the sleeve, fingering a kunai, before he realized it was little Naruto.

Said blonde was bent over, trying to catch his breath. In between his pants, Sarutobi could catch the words "kill" "festival" "Jiji".

The hokage rose from his chair and knelt down to look the child in the face.

"Breathe Naruto-kun. In. Out. Good. Now what did you want to tell me?" He asked when the child had calmed down.

"I was going to get ramen when the wind blew the money out of my hand. And I know that the old man always reminds me that I need to get my money before I order anything. So I tried to get it all and one blew into the sewer pipes. So I pulled up the thingy, and I crawled in there, and I found my money, but I couldn't get it, and then I heard some voices talking about killing you." Naruto babbled, almost too fast for the aged hokage to catch. By the end, tears were streaming down his face.

Grabbing a handkerchief from his pocket, Hiruzen wiped off the muddy tears on his cheeks before holding it up to the boys nose.

"Blow." He ordered. With a loud honking noise, Naruto complied.

"Now, tell me again what happened in the pipe. Slower." He added, before Naruto could start.

The blonde nodded.

"I was trying to get my money when I heard these two voices, I think they were men, talking about killing you on the night of the Memorial Festival." Naruto said.

"What were their exact words?" The old man questioned.

"I couldn't hear everything, but I think they said. 'kill, festival night, Sandaime, die.' You're not gonna die, are you Jiji?" Naruto asked desperately, tears gathering once again in the corners of his eyes.

Sarutobi placed a hand on each shoulder of the young boy and looked him in the eye.

"Not if I have anything to say about it. Don't worry about me. I may be old but I'm not helpless yet." He joked, getting a watery smile from the child.

"Bear!" the hokage barked, as he rose to his feet.

Within instants, a kneeling ANBU was in front of him.

"Take your squad. Find those men, and bring them in. They're most likely still in the area."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The ANBU said, before disappearing.

"Now," Hiruzen said, turning to the small boy, "How about we go get that ramen that you wanted?"

"Really! Thanks, Jiji!" Naruto yelled, causing Sarutobi to chuckle.

0o0o0o0

The next nine days flew past as summer truly faded into autumn. The afternoon warmth and sunlight faded, causing the many strings of brightly colored lanterns and other festival decorations to appear. Soon sounds of laughing, shouting children, and strains of music could be heard through the window of the tiny room in the orphanage, beside which sat the same little blonde. Carefully he peeked out at the goings on. He had been warned to stay in his room.

Naruto didn't think it was fair. He had tried to go last year, but a few steps out the front door and he had gotten so sick he had passed out from the noise and excitement. At least, that's what his Jiji said. He didn't really remember much about the festival last year. He had woken up the day after in the hospital bed.

"I wish I could go out there too. It looks like fun." He sighed, watching two boys slightly older than him race down the street carrying toy kunai.

Naruto was forced out of his pity party by the rough grasp of a hand on his shirt. He was dragged away from the light of the window to face a masked man, who was holding a real kunai to the boy's neck.

Naruto dragged in a breath to scream, but a leather clad hand clamped down over his mouth.

"Don't even think about it." His attacker ordered.

Naruto froze as his heart tried to escape his chest.

He knew this voice.

"I see you remember me. Or at least…my voice. See, a few days ago, some of my friends just disappeared. Seems the ANBU think they had something to do with a plot to kill the hokage." The man continued, chatting as if he wasn't holding a child at knife point, but merely talking to an old acquaintance.

"My friends are innocent though, sadly. They weren't trying to kill the Sandaime Hokage. They were just concerned citizens who wanted to get rid of some vermin that's been infesting our fair city for the last few years. A certain little _demon_ that's been walking around, taunting us." The man explained, showing Naruto just who he meant by putting more pressure on the kunai. A small bead of blood began to make its way down Naruto's next as he began to shake.

"We're not after the Sandaime Hokage. We're after the Sandaime Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. I'm going to send you back to hell, where you belong!" He growled. He pulled back the kunai to get a better angle to slit the kid's throat.

Naruto felt the man's hand jerk before he was falling on top of him.

"All….your…fault…" The man gasped as blood started to come from the corner of his mouth.

The child quickly scurried to the corner of his small room, away from the dark figure that had killed the man.

"It's okay, Naruto. It's me. Inu." The man assured him, stepping into the light from the street coming into the window.

Seeing the silver hair, Naruto ran to him and hung onto him for dear life. Strong arms soon engulfed him, as he was taken to the Hokage's office via shunshin.

0o0o0o0

Sarutobi rubbed a wrinkled hand against his tired brow as he watched the sleeping child on the couch in his office. Once again, Naruto had had to be forced into a sleep after a traumatizing attack. Inoichi had just left after erasing Naruto's memories of the event.

Soon after Kakashi had arrived with the blonde, he had sent people to get the body and clean up. Make it look like it never happened. To do whatever they could to help Naruto never realize the all out war that was going on around him. The war for his existence.

It shouldn't be this way. A child should be able to have fun, laugh, dance on his birthday, not wonder if he's going to survive it.

Sarutobi sighed as he sat down on the edge of the couch.

"One day, you'll have to face it all, but until then, sleep, dream. Let us protect you." He whispered, running his hands through the blonde spikes.

The blonde slumbered on, unaware of his role to be played in the dark world one day.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I got this idea from reading a story that just mentioned Naruto as the third jinchuuriki. For some reason that stuck with me, and made me remember that 'sandaime' doesn't necessarily mean the hokage, just 'third in a succession'. Hence this idea popped up. Stupid plot bunnies...

Anyways, thanks for reading, drop a note to tell me what you thought. I'm not a great writer, I admit, but I do enjoy it on occasion. Now give me a piano...and it's another story ;)

Please leave constructive criticism, meaning something I can work on with useful advice on how to do it better.

Reminder. Oneshot. No more. I have no idea where it would go anyways .

Adios!

Soprano~in~Waiting


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